Losing streak grows to season-high nine games as women’s basketball falls to WMU
Bolingbrook Illinois senior Jahari Smith sets up for a play against Kent State on Wednesday Feb. 9 in McGuirk Arena.
With its Mid-American Conference tournament hopes dashed, Central Michigan (4-23, 2-16) women’s basketball went to Kalamazoo looking to play spoiler to Western Michigan's (15-12, 9-9) playoff dreams.
But, in front of a pumped-up University Arena crowd, the Broncos caught fire from deep en route to a 68-49 win on Saturday.
The win secures the season sweep over the Chippewas and snaps a three-game skid for WMU.
With freshman Tiana Timpe going down against Toledo, CMU found itself with six available players going forward, as Molly Davis and Kalle Martinez have yet to return from injury.
On Friday, Head Coach Heather Oesterle added two players from CMU volleyball to meet the seven-player minimum.
Freshman Karrington Gordon got her first career start in place of Timpe. However, none of the new additions saw time in the loss.
Senior Jahari Smith notched her eleventh double-double of the year, finishing with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
With Smith bolstering the offense, CMU recorded 36 points in the paint. But when WMU began to collapse inside, the Chippewas struggled to keep pace from three-point land. They finished 2-for-13 in the contest, a season-low.
Junior Anika Weekes buried both three-pointers for CMU while finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Broncos didn’t suffer the same shooting woes and opened 5-for-6 from three in the opening quarter. Once it established an advantage, WMU never let the Chippewas back into the game.
Even though the Broncos held a 21-point lead during the game, CMU continued crashing the glass and won the rebounding battle 37-34.
The Chippewas have been looking for a rebounding presence from the guard position, and freshman Hanna Knoll stepped up in that category against WMU. She finished with six points and six rebounds.
WMU’s Reilly Jacobson led all players in scoring with 19 points while shooting 5-for-7 from the floor and adding 10 rebounds.
CMU returns to McGuirk Arena for its final home game of the season on Wednesday, where they will face Ball State at 7 p.m. The Cardinals lead the season series 1-0.
